


Only Three Words

by IKnowPlaces



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Easter Egg Hunt, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, I swear, Imagine your OTP, Lots of Oneshots, M/M, Multi, Stucky in the 2030ies, aou is not really a thing that happened, civil war and infinity war are also mostly ignored, so much fluff honestly, there's also a plot somewhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:02:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5395160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IKnowPlaces/pseuds/IKnowPlaces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chapter 1) Being stuck with a Labrador called Broccoli </p><p>Chapter 2) Easter Egg Hunt</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. April 2029

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, here I am again with the first sort of oneshot-chapter for this work!  
> These are mostly oneshot-flashbacks and the present story does have a plot after all, but it is going to be a while until we get there, so bear with me. 
> 
> This fic is very canon-orientated but I think we can all agree some things are better forgotten.
> 
> Additional tags will be updated as the story continues. Same with Archive Warnings and maybe the rating.
> 
> Also I really love Stucky with kids, what can I say.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We are _not_ naming the dog Labrathor!” Steve sighs and rolls his eyes, a tiny ball of golden fur pressed against his chest, hand stroking its fur.  
>  “But it’s a _great_ name!” Bucky huffs.  
>  “No, it is not. You know I love you, but I don’t love you enough to let you get away with this.”  
> “What do you mean you don’t love me enough, you _married_ me!”  
>  Steve sighs. “That I did.” 
> 
> “Okay. How about we compromise and let the kids decide?” Bucky opts to suggest.  
> “Okay, but Maggie gets to decide. Nate already named the asshole-cat.” 
> 
>  
> 
> And that is how they end up with a dog named Broccoli.

“We are  _not_ naming the dog Labrathor!” Steve sighs and rolls his eyes, a tiny ball of golden fur pressed against his chest, hand stroking its fur.

“But it’s a _great_ name!” Bucky huffs and opens the glass door in front of them just in time. He’s a little preoccupied with the fact that the nameless puppy’s fur is the same color as Steve’s disheveled hair and almost runs straight into it. “Think about Thor’s face if he’d find out!”

“No, it is not. It is absolutely not. You know I love you, but I don’t love you enough to let you get away with this.”  

“What do you mean you don’t love me enough, you _married_ me!”

Steve sighs again and fumbles around with his keys. “That I did.”

He does think about Thor’s reaction for a second there, though and smiles to himself.

They get into the car _(“Oh my God Steve, you don’t have to live up to your reputation, you know.”_ Sam had said shaking his head upon first seeing the soccer mom van; modified by S.H.I.E.L.D, that is.) and postpone the discussion for a later time, while he drives them back to their house, reluctantly handing the nameless dog over to Bucky for the time being.

He steals little glimpses of his husband interacting with the new family member, Bucky ever so gently stroking its fur with his right hand, letting the dog sniff at his left one, the tiny bright green leash looking totally out of place in it. He smiles brightly when the dog barks at him and Bucky looks so happy that Steve has to resist the urge to climb over into the passenger seat and kiss him stupid right then and there. Sadly, he’s still driving and there are other people on the road.  
(He wonders, briefly, why he hadn’t had the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. software installed in this car, it could’ve taken the wheel over for him and mauling Bucky wouldn’t have been a problem anymore.)

 

“Okay. How about we compromise and let the kids decide?” Bucky opts to suggest as Steve puts the car into park. He fails to see how that is a compromise exactly, but it’s as close as to defeat as it will get, so he smirks. Shaking his head, he says: “Okay, but Maggie gets to decide. Nate already named the asshole-cat.”

“You just say that because you hate cats, he’s never done anything but love you!”

Steve can’t really argue with that. He’s just not the cat type and if anyone else had brought the stray home Steve would have given it up for adoption sooner rather than later. But it had been Bucky and so Steve arranges.

The garden is surrounded by high picket fences, so they let the dog run free. The puppy runs up the driveway excitedly, barking and sniffing and sneezing at the flowers lining up the way. Bucky has put the leash around his neck and looks positively adorable stepping through the threshold.

“I’m going to pick up the kids, okay? You can show overly-excited here around.” Bucky points at the dog to his feet. Before he can look down though, Bucky puts the leash around Steve’s neck and pulls him closer. Steve’s hands come to rest on his hips, he looks up and Bucky’s eyes are full of mischief.

“You don’t have to go just yet.” Steve’s voice sounds hoarse even to his own ears and he swallows. Damn Bucky for still doing this to him.

He just hums in response, grin on his lips and leans in, pressing his lips to Steve’s. He lets go of the leash, hands tangling in Steve’s hair.

Bucky pulls away when the dog barks loudly.

“Well buddy, you’re going to have to get used to this.” He says, pressing another kiss to Steve’s cheek and is out of the door again.

“C’mon, I’ll show you around.” Steve closes the door and for the next half hour he lets the puppy explore the rooms of their house. He also gets out all the stuff he and Bucky had bought. The bed he puts next to the couch in the living room, bowls for food and water go in the kitchen (The cat’s are in a safe distance), same with the food that he puts into the cupboard under the sink. Some toys are scattered around the house and garden. The brown leather collar with a matching leash get their own place on the key hooks.

They had put up a few rules before bringing the dog home. He was not to sit on the couch, the bed was taboo, too. There’d be no feeding him from the table. Steve can feel his resolve crumble already, when he sits down onto the couch with a glass of orange juice and two sad puppy eyes – literally – are staring at him.

A while later the asshole-cat appears through the cat flap. Steve leans forward in anticipation. There’s enough space for either of the animals to escape if necessary and he trusts his supersoldier-reflexes to break up a fight before it can get out of hand. Milo eyes the newcomer suspiciously. The dog, in his childish over-excitement, storms forward to lick the cat’s face, but Milo puts a paw out to keep him at bay. When the dog sits down barking eventually, tail wagging, Milo sniffs at his face and apparently decides there’s no immediate threat posed by the golden nugget, because he gets on with his way towards his foot bowl. He meows loudly when he finds it empty and shoots an accusing glare towards Steve, who gets up and refills it. His phone buzzes in his pocket and he gets it out to see the text from Bucky he’s been waiting for.

 _T-5_ is all it reads, but that’s good enough for Steve. He collects the dog from where he’s laid down to take a nap and moves towards the door with him is his arms.

As soon as the door opens it is chaos. The twins argue about something, already taking off their jackets and shoes, Bucky tells them to quit it and the dog, almost asleep a few minutes ago, is now full of energy, barking and struggling in Steve’s arms. When it registers, the kids look up with awe in their eyes.

“Dad, whose puppy is that!” Nate is the first one to find his voice. Steve has to fight a smile. It’s quite a sight. Nate still has one shoe on and Maggie has her hands clasped over her mouth, jacket dangling from her left arm.

“Ours.” He catches Bucky’s satisfied smile as the kids go crazy.

“Oh my god, dad, really?!” Maggie shrieks and all but throws her jacket down. Usually he’d reprimand her, but today Bucky simply picks it up and puts it where it belongs.  
He kneels down so they can stick their fingers into the golden fur.

“What’s its name?” Nate asks quietly.

“I wanna hold it!” Maggie squeaks and Steve puts the dog down. The puppy sniffs at her feet and then sneezes. Bucky barks out a laugh at the gesture and Steve joins in.

“Well, looks like somebody needs to take a shower, huh?” Bucky laughs and drives a hand through Maggie’s dark brown hair.

“Actually, remember how Nate named our cat Milo? Maggie, now it’s your turn. Do you want to give him a name?” Steve asks and Maggie lights up like a Christmas tree.

“Yes!” she says excitedly and gives the puppy a once-over. Then she looks up to Steve with the most heartbreaking expression no 4-year-old should be able to manage. “I don’t know a name.”

“That’s okay.” Bucky assures her “It doesn’t have to be right now. You can think about it.”

 

And Maggie does think about it. Over the next few days Bucky writes down an endless list of names, starting with Mr. Boatman and ending with Bello. Bucky told her he thinks Labrathor would be a good name and Maggie giggled, but then proceeded to say “That’s silly, daddy!”. Steve laughed at him. Full belly laugh. He made up for it later that night.

It is Saturday and they are all out in the backyard, playing fetch with the still nameless dog. Steve is behind the grill, the scent of meat filling the air, refreshments on the table. The cat sits on the roof of the shed and licks his paws. The dog rolls around in the grass and Steve can see from where he’s standing that he’s going to need a bath tonight.

“Hey, lunch’s ready.” Steve puts food on plates and the rest of his family comes to the table and they all sit down and tear into their meal. The dog sleeps on the ground between Nate and Maggie. She’s halfway through her burger when she starts giggling. She puts her food down, takes a swig of water and wipes her hands with a napkin. Bucky and Steve exchange a quick look, but both are clueless what’s to come.

“I know a name!” She giggles again. Steve puts his fork and knife down.

“Okay. What is it?”

“Broccoli!”

Steve and Bucky exchange another look. While Steve looks mildly panicked, Bucky looks mostly amused.

“Broccoli? That’s a vegetable.” Bucky states with a hidden grin on his lips. Steve kicks his shin under the table.

“No.” Maggie shakes her head “It’s the dog’s name.” her tone is final and Bucky laughs – mostly at Steve’s dumbstruck face – while Maggie bends down towards the dog, making cooing noises, saying: “Broccoli! Broccoli here!”

Steve wonders why this is his life.

A second later he hates himself for that thought, because, fuck, he’d lost Bucky once and he doesn’t think he’d survive something like that again. His life is good. Great, even.  
He’s married to James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (technically he’s now a Barnes, too, but they still go by their old names officially), has two wonderful kids names after the most important persons in their lives – Margaret “Maggie” Sarah Barnes and Nathan James Rogers – living in a house with a white picket fence with Milo-the-asshole-cat and Broccoli the puppy.

“Why Broccoli?” Steve finds himself asking.

“Because he’s green like broccoli!” his daughter declares as if he missed the most obvious thing in the world.

“You could’ve named him Hulk.” He suggests, but Maggie shakes her little head.

“No, the Hulk is bigger.”

 

And that is how they end up with a dog named Broccoli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, yes. Broccoli the dog. Sounds familiar? Well, you might be thinking of [this Humans Of New York post](https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork/photos/a.102107073196735.4429.102099916530784/1133111936762905/). 
> 
> I was sort of struggling with the dog's name, then this post came along and it was a done deal. I'm sorry.


	2. April 21, 2030

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Daddy, look! There's an egg in this one! Dad, you need to hold his. There is so much stuff! And I only got two arms. I wish I was an Octopus. Then I could hold all the things myself!” 
> 
> “And I got gummy worms! Look, I'm Dracula!” Maggie grins at them standing on the patio, two blue-and-red striped worms hanging from her mouth. Steve would be wondering how his 6-year-old daughter knows about Dracula, but Bucky shakes his head beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY EASTER! 
> 
> I really wanted to upload at least a little something today, so have this totally plotless chapter!

Steve dumps the last of the candy bars onto the floor, where a huge pile is already assembled.

“You know we only gotta feed two small kids and not a whole infantry, right?” Bucky asks skeptically and tears open a milky way bar.

Steve looks at the pile for a second. They have a rule about candies; the kids are each allowed one candy bar every two days. With the stuff they've gathered for tomorrows special occasion they could survive until after college. He sighs and takes one of the handcrafted Easter baskets. “I guess we'll just have to eat most of this on our own. Why did we even buy this much chocolate? They're gonna get diabetes.”

“What a hardship to eat all the delicious chocolate.” Bucky deadpans and bites into snickers bar.

“Will you stop eating and help me?”

Bucky smiles sheepishly, shoves the rest of the bar into his face just to annoy his husband, who rolls his eyes as predicted, and takes a basket himself.

They fill them with a little bit of hay before putting a few things inside. A colored egg. Two candy bars or a chocolate Easter bunny. Nate currently loves skittles and Maggie sour gummy worms, so they put those in there, too. That doesn't take long, though. The kids are asleep in their respective rooms, the dog put away in the laundry room and the cat is gallivanting god-knows-where. It's just the two of them working in silence.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks just as promising as the last time Steve checked it ten minutes ago. Sunny, dry, but not too hot. Perfect weather for an easter egg hunt. They take a few baskets outside and hide them in the bushes and between the tulips. Bucky puts one for Nate onto the windowsill of the shed. Steve drops tiny chocolate eggs here and there. They probably won't find all of them tomorrow. Hopefully the dog won't eat them. Maybe he'll have to check the garden tomorrow night.

The house itself is decorated lovely. The bush in the front garden is covered in colorful eggs. The kids were very careful with the fragile shells, putting just enough pressure onto the glue-soaked brushes. There are tiny chocolate bunnies and little eggs on every available surface. The adults had only found one or two wrapping papers, though. Quite surprising, really, given that Maggie had definitely inherited Bucky's sweet tooth. Nate is getting a book about fire trucks for Easter and Maggie a new tutu for her dancing class. Steve hides the presents in the kitchen cupboards.

“Think we're about done here?” Bucky asks as there is nothing left to hide. Except maybe for the still huge pile of chocolate bars on the living room floor, but Bucky is already storing it away out of the reach of children's hands.

“Yeah, just let me clean up the house and I'll be right with you.” Steve says grabbing the bag of leftover hay. He walks up to Bucky, puts a hand on his hip and pulls him close to press his lips to his. Bucky hums into the kiss and they let it linger for longer than is sensible.

 

*

 

Bucky jostles awake when he hears whispering outside the bedroom. He's long since gotten rid of the instant thought of intruders walking around the house and instead accepted that the tiny ones where roaming free. He looks at the clock and groans. It's barely six o'clock.

“Dad! Daddy! Wake up, the Easter bunny was here!” Maggie announces in a stage whisper, hammering on the door with tiny fists.

“There are eggs _everywhere_!” Nate chimes in and opens the door carefully. “Are you awake, daddy? Can we come in?”

Bucky groans dramatically. “Nooo, I'm _asleep_! You need to come back later.” The kids laugh and storm inside, jumping up and down on the bed. “Hey, see if dad's already in the kitchen, yeah? Breakfast first and then we'll see about the Easter bunny situation.” Nate groans and Maggie rolls her eyes, but they both disappear through the door and a minute later Bucky can hear excited screams from the kitchen. Apparently Steve already made pancakes.

Bucky gets dressed in record time, gulps down a cup of coffee and then helps clean the kitchen. The kids stare at him and Steve, wiggling about their seats in anticipation.

“Okay” Steve starts “Let's see what the Easter bunny left here, shall we? Do you want to look inside or outside first?”

“He left more stuff in the _garden_?” Maggie gapes and Bucky has to bite his lip to keep from laughing. His daughter is too adorable for her own good.

“Maybe. You'll see. Put on your shoes.”

Ten minutes later each of them has a basket in their hands, already stuffed full with the chocolates Steve dropped around the house. The adults stay by the door, Broccoli on short leash to their feet, while the children explore the garden.

“We definitely need to take like, half of that away.” Bucky states, brows furrowed. There's a crease between them and Steve can't stop himself from swiping a thump over it gently.

“You just want to eat all the chocolate yourself.” Steve teases and kisses his Bucky.

“Daddy, look!” Nate screams then, demanding their full attention. “There's an egg in this one! A purple egg! Maybe I will give this to uncle Clint. Are we going to see him today? Dad, you need to hold his. There is so much stuff! And I only got two arms. I wish I was an Octopus. Then I could hold all the things myself!” he babbles on, pushing a basket into Steve's hands “But don't eat my candy! That's all _mine_!” He eyes his fathers suspiciously and darts off again.

“We will see Clint and Natasha tomorrow.”

“And I got gummy worms! Look, I'm Dracula!” Maggie grins at them standing on the patio, two blue-and-red striped worms hanging from her mouth. Steve would be wondering how his 6-year-old daughter knows about Dracula, but Bucky shakes his head beside him.

“Maggie, you know there's a rule about how much candy we eat, right?”

Maggie's shoulders drop immediately. She doesn't take the worms out, though, instead speaks around them. “But daddy, it's Easter. We can make today an expection and eat all the candy!”

“Exception.” Bucky corrects “And no, we cannot. But you can have three gummy worms today, okay?” Maggie nods, sucking one of the worms into her mouth, while putting the other one into Bucky's palm. It's slobbery and disgusting, but Bucky's above caring. The perks of being a parent. When nobody looks, he eats the worm and earns himself a knowing smirk from his husband.

“Can it, punk.” he warns him.

“I didn't say anything, jerk.”

 

*

 

It takes them almost three hours to find all the candy and the presents. Nate spends some time on Bucky's lap reading his new book, while Maggie dances around the spacious living room in her red leotard and new tutu with Milo in her arms.

Putting the children down for a nap is a struggle, as the sugar sigh only slowly subsides. When they finally sleep, Bucky stores half of the candy away, while Steve reprimands Broccoli for trying to eat chocolates off a counter.

“So I know we decided to not get each other something, cause it's only Easter and stuff, but-”

“Are you kidding?” Bucky chokes out, when Steve walks to join him on the couch, a little wrapped something in his hands “I didn't get you anything!”

“That's fine. It's no big deal, I just saw this and had to think of you. It's kinda cheesy. You'll probably hate it.” Steve mumbles, blushing.

“Hey, no. C'mere.” Bucky opens his hands, both for the present and to pull Steve down onto the couch. He fumbles with the paper for a moment, tearing it open carefully. Inside is a little box in what he believes people call an _ethno_ -design. Confused, he opens the box to reveal a mint blue dream catcher.

“What-?” Bucky laughs and Steve blushes even more.

“I know it's silly and we're not exactly superstitious people, but maybe... I thought maybe it might help with, uh, with your nightmares.”

All Bucky can do is stare. Stare at the man in front of him, cheeks red with embarrassment, sporting an unsure smile and he knows, he just _knows_ that he's falling even more in love with Steve. Instead of answering, Bucky pulls him into a kiss, trying to convey his gratitude in this simple gesture.

 


End file.
